Battlestar Galactica Finale: Explained

SPOILER warning: This post discusses every big reveal from series finale

If you’re a fan of Battlestar Galactica like myself, you may have watched the finale on Friday night and thought, “What the hell?”  This show has introduced so much character development, conflict, and drama over four years that it is honestly difficult to tell whether I’m disappointed the series is ending or disappointed with the series’ ending. ((Photo by way of “diverse distinctive dave’s” blog)) They wrapped up most of the big questions and left a lot unanswered.  Without further ado, I present you with the answers to all the outstanding questions gleaned from the post-finale press conference:

1. What’s the deal with the Battlestar Galactica “Final Supper” picture?

   

   • Its an unintentional red herring.  ((Photo courtesy of stridli.  Editing, all me!))  basically has nothing to do with the show’s plot.  It was a photo op someone thought would be cool. ((And, they were right.))  The writers had nothing to do with the photo setup, so don’t read anything into it.
2. What’s the deal with the “Cylon god”?
   • We don’t know.  The “Cylon god” is not necessarily the same “god” referred to by the imaginary Baltar and Six.  We probably won’t know for sure about the “Cylon god” until “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan” comes out in Fall 2009.
3. What’s the deal with imaginary Baltar and Six and the real Baltar and Caprica Six?
   • The imaginary Baltar and Six are agents of “god” that apparently only manifest to the real Baltar and Caprica Six.  They are neither good nor bad, neither angels nor demons.  The “god” the imaginary Baltar and Caprica Six serve is something akin to the collective unconscious underlying the universe.  Their sole mission was to ensure the real Baltar and Caprica Six survive to deliver Hera to the CIC on the Galactica.  The real Baltar and Caprica Six come to believe in the god described by their imaginary counterparts.  This belief enables Baltar (a true cynic) to deliver his speach to Cavil and almost broker peace between the Cylons and humans and break the cycle of violence.
4. What’s the deal with the opera house dreams?
   • Four people (9Sharon “Athena” Agathon – a Cylon 8 model, President Laura Roslin, Dr. Gaius Baltar, and Caprica Six)) shared the opera house dream.  This dream was meant to guide each of these people to the CIC on the Galactica at the end of the confrontation between the humans and Cylons.
5. What’s the deal with Kara Thrace/Starbuck?
   • Who the frak knows.  While we don’t know how she was brought back to life, we do know why she was brought back.  We also have no idea where she went or how she just disappeared.  She was brought back from the dead for the purpose of entering the numeric equivalent of “All Along the Watchtower” into the FTL drive.  Starbuck, her father, and Hera all tapped into something eternal and fundamental underlying the entire universe in order to hear/play this song.
6. What’s the deal with Daniel? Was Daniel the father of Kara Thrace/Starbuck?

   • 

     He was an unintentional red herring.  He was meant to be a “Cain and Abel” back story for Cavil to show he was a right bastard – nothing more.  While there are certain pieces which support this theory, he was never meant to be Starbuck’s dad.  The “Daniel” model Cylon would have been permanently destroyed long before Starbuck was ever born.

7. What happened to the Cylons in the base near the black hole?
   • After Racetrack’s Viper was knocked around, it accidentally nuked the Cylon baseship.  After the battle and after the Galactica jumped away, it lost its stable orbit at the edge of the black hole and was pulled in.
8. What’s the deal with the various prophecies, the mandala/nebula/nova in Starbuck’s drawings, and “All Along the Watchtower”?
   • “Everything has happened before and will happen again.”  The cycle of humans, humans building Cylons, Cylons evolving, human-Cylon violence, has occurred for thousands of years and will occur again.  During these cycles certain people (Starbuck, Starbuck’s father, prophets, those who see the opera house dreams, etc) all tap into the collective unconscious underlying the universe.  This allows Starbuck’s father to compose “All Along the Watchtower,” Hera to paint the musical notes for it, the song to be the key to unlock the final five, and the song to be the numerical equivalent of the way to our Earth.  150,000 years after everything in this series, humankind has again evolved to the point of embracing technology.  This would allow the new BSG series to serve as a background and origin story for the original BSG series.

Most of this information is from the post-Battlestar Galactica finale interview.  I’ve tried to make it as intelligible as I can.

Do you disagree with my descriptions above?  Do you have another BSG question you need resolved?  Let me know in the comments!